Printing-press delivery



B. F. UPHAM April 29,L 1930.

PRINTING PRESS DELIVERY Filed Jan. 27, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l inl ||||I JHIIIIUHHIIIIIIHH llillllll O .d

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INVENTOR plil 29, 1930. B F, UPHAM ,756,45

PRINTING PRES S DELIVERY Filed Jan. 27, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Apr. 29, 1930 UNITED STATES P ATEEN T OFF ICE BURT F. UPI-IAM, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO MILLER SA'V- TRIMMER COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, sYLvnNIA PENNSYLVANIA, A CORIPORATION 0F PENN- '.PBINTINGr-PRESS DELIVERY Application led January 2'?, '192.7'.v Serial No. 163,912.

My invention pertains to printinof press deliveries, and relates especially to de iveries of the continuous conveyor type.

In printing press deliveries of the continuous conveyor type, it has heretofore been common so to construct the mechanism that the conveyor, usually taking the form of a series of tapes, is driven synchronously with the remainder of the press, the conveyor frequently traveling substantially at the same face speed as the cylinder This has resulted in an undesirable rapidity of delivery, the sheets being shot off from the conveyor at a speed which rendered proper stacking diiiicult and which made it hard for the operator to inspect the sheets as they'came out of the press. It is an object of my invention to improve upon printing press deliveries, especial. ly in connection with sheet-stacking efficiency, and inspection convenience. In this connection, I have discovered that delivery of the sheets may be practically effected when the conveyor is driven at a constant speed, regardless of the speed at which the press itself is running, and that such constant speed may be considerably less than the face speed of the cylinder. By thus constructing the delivery, I have found that remarkably improved results are secured in facility of stacking the sheets, in convenience of inspection, and otherwise.

By way of example, I have described an embodiment of my invention in the following specification, and shown it in the accompanying drawings, though it will be understood, of course, that the invention may be embodied in other forms, within the scope thereof as defined by the appended claim..

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a print-ing press having my improved sheet delivery applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.

The press is shown as driven by an electric motor 10,- mounted at the delivery end of the machine. The motor is connected by means of a belt 11 with a variable speed driving device of any desired construction. In practice, a governor-controlled friction clutch is employed, the clutch being of'a well known general type such as is disclosed, for instance,

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in Strite Patent No. 1,171,554, February`15, 1916, or in the copending application of VaL Smith, Ser. No. 728,814, filed July 29, 15924. The outer member 12 of this clutch is driven by thebelt 11, and the inner member 13 is geared .tothe press proper, including vthe impression cylinder 14. By manipulating a lever 15 the effectiveness of governor-controlled friction devices engaging between the members 12 and 13 is varied, and consequently the speed at which the press is driven is adjusted.

The main shaft 16 of the delivery conveyor, which here takes the form of a series of tapes,

is driven directly from the motor 10 by belts i 17 and 18; so that the speed of the delivery conveyor is constant and is independent of the speed of the press, which is adjustable. The tapes 19 pass over a shaft 2O disposed adjacent the usual over the main shaft 16, which is knurled, thence around a second knurled shaft 22 thence over rolls 23 carried by adjustable arm 24 and thence back to the shaft 20.

Since the cylinder 14 makes tworevolutions for each sheet delivered, and since only a part of the cylinder periphery is employed as an impression surface, the tapes will remove the sheets in time to prevent interference with each other even though they travel at a speed which is greatly less (in the neighborhood of one-quarter) of the peripheral speed of the cylinder. The speed ratio between the motor 10 and the main shaft 16 of the delivery conveyor is so chosen that the conveyor will take away in time the largest sheets which the press will accommodate, when the press is being run at the highest speed of which it is capable. This means that, with the press running at its highest speed, the sheets will y be slowed down to approximately one-quarter such speed in being delivered. At lower speeds of the press, the retarding effect will not, of course, be so marked. vIIowever,the

result as a whole will be a constant and a re stripper fingers 21, thence stoppage of the impression members of the press, the delivery conveyor continues to run; so that the sheet or sheets which may be upon the conveyor at the time of stoppage of the impression members, Will be delivered as usual, instead of being left on the conveyor, possibly over a burner, for the operator to remove by hand. A further advantage is that Where a burner or the like is employed for drying the ink, removing static charges, etc., the sheets are exposed for a greater length of time to such burner and the eicieney of the latter is thereby increased.

Having thus fully described my invent-ion what I claim as new7 and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: The combination With a printing couple and a variable speed driving means for the same, of a continuous Conveyor device for delivering sheets from said Couple and constant speed driving meansfor said device.

BURT F. UPHAM. 

